undine means A female given name from Latin. It carries an Arena rating of 1486, earned across 6 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, undine ranks #431 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #607 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words, #1,081 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #1,503 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words.
undine is pronounced /ˈʌndiːn/.
Why “undine” is a great word
A female water spirit or elemental being. From German Undine, from New Latin undīna coined in the 16th century by Paracelsus, from Latin unda ("wave, water"). Unlike a naiad, a nymph of Greek myth bound to a single spring or river, or a sylph, a spirit of the air, the undine is a creature of water's essence—a broader, melancholic conception born of Renaissance alchemy. She is the sudden chill on a lakeside path at dusk, the face that surfaces in a well's dark mirror, the sound of water speaking in a voice almost human; she is the ancient suspicion that the element which sustains us would also, indifferently, swallow us whole.
Etymology
From German Undine (“undine”), first used as a given name in the novel Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué and in 19th-century operas based on the book.
name
- A female given name from Latin.
noun
- A female water-sprite or nymph.
- The elemental being of water.
- a small flask used to apply lotions to the eye.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- hydriad 69% match — A water nymph. vs undine →
- undinal 69% match — Relating to, or characteristic of, an undine vs undine →
- tritoness 64% match — A female spirit of the sea. vs undine →
- nymph 63% match — Any female nature spirit associated with water, forests, grottos, wind, etc. vs undine →
- ephydriad 63% match — A dryad, a water nymph. vs undine →
- mermaiden 62% match — A mermaid; a maiden of the sea; a siren. vs undine →
- dryad 61% match — Any of the dryas plants, especially the plant mountain avens. vs undine →
- elven 61% match — Originally, a female elf, a fairy, a nymph; (by extension) any elf. vs undine →